


sweet (but bitter)

by coffee, fiddleogold_againstyoursoul



Series: Death Meets Life. It's Not Pretty. [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst as Hell, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 12:58:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5334965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffee/pseuds/coffee, https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiddleogold_againstyoursoul/pseuds/fiddleogold_againstyoursoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico loves coffee, but only the way Will makes it. Or at least, used to make it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sweet (but bitter)

**Author's Note:**

> I have developed a habit for writing Solangelo fics no one asks for. This one is another example. Have fun!
> 
> Edited again in 2017!

Nico likes coffee.

He likes the creamy texture Will usually makes it with, because the blond knows beneath the cool exterior Nico keeps up there's a heart that beats a lot faster when he enters the room and a sweet tooth. He likes the way Will has it ready for him every morning even when he has to go to school or work early, sitting on the counter-top. Likes how Will knows Nico can't start a day without coffee, how he grinds the beans and makes it himself. The scent reminds Nico of him. It always will.

The coffee Will made got Nico through the horribly messy divorce of his parents. Nico doesn't remember what it's like to wake up and not find the older blond in his kitchen, brewing coffee for both of them. He knows Will prefers hot chocolate with marshmallows. Will never drinks it in Nico's company. He never drinks anything other than what Nico will. It's an unspoken truce. _I won't let you do anything alone ever again._ Because Will's seen the scars Nico had running up his arms. He's seen the way Nico flinches, even if slightly, when he puts his arm around him. And to Will it's okay. Time heals old wounds, and if it doesn't, they close on their own anyway.

Sometimes as a treat, Will bakes to get something with the coffee. He nearly burns down Nico's kitchen one time, but that's okay. Will looks good in that flowery apron Nico will avoid like the plague. His butter cookies taste like sin -- and not the good kind -- the first time, but Will's gotten better at it. They melt on Nico's tongue, the sweet moments before he sinks his cup of coffee. Will bakes other things, too, but Nico remembers his cookies the most. They go well with the coffee. His Will is gifted.

Nico misses Will's coffee when an assignment brings him overseas. He smiles for Will's sake through the webcam, because gods forbid Will Solace ever see him unhappy. He settles for the coffee the hotel makes, even if it's flavourless and dull. Because no one can recreate Will's coffee. The taste of coffee on his lips when he kisses Will. The sugar lingering in his mouth as Will licks it away. Coffee made by other people will never taste that good. He waits patiently till it's time to go home again. At the airport Will is waiting. He has coffee in a thermos, a giant grin on his silly face. Nico kisses him hello and forgets about the kiss goodbye.

Nico likes coffee.

He likes waking up to empty sheets beside him and knowing Will is in the kitchen, tying an apron around his waist and making coffee. Sometimes the smell is accompanied by that of frying bacon, to which Nico will add the thought that Will is a godsend. He likes getting up slowly and dressing before going to the kitchen where Will is waiting with a pleasant smile and a cup of coffee. Nico's cup, he calls it. It's black with a skull on it. Nico calls it cliche. Will laughs and pecks him on the forehead. Nico secretly likes it. But don't tell Will.

They have a space in their house where the two will sit and watch television. Not the rom-coms, Nico will beseech. Will knows what his partner prefers. They sit side by side watching programmes about married couples and cooking shows instead. Will sometimes asks Nico when he will pop the question. Nico goes bright red and won't speak, and Will will laugh again. Nico loves coffee, but he loves Will's laugh more. It comes so easily. Nico sometimes wonders how he does it.

Sometimes Will has company over. They'll cook up a storm...Nico washing dishes and setting the table...and guests will arrive, nodding to Nico and embracing Will. They dine on lobsters and caviar, laughing merrily into the night, but Will seldom throws those types of dinners. He knows Nico much prefers to be home alone, eating leftovers and watching bad telly while drinking coffee. They both settle for that. An extrovert and an introvert sharing the same space must each make sacrifices. For Will it's hardly a sacrifice. He makes excuses for Nico when the latter wishes to sleep, and brings up coffee afterward. 

Nico loves Will's coffee.

He loves the way he smells it on Will's breath when he slides into the sheets next to him, leaning over to peck his cheek affectionately. He loves how Will watches him sip every mouthful of it, telling him to be careful because it's hot and it might scald the inside of his cheek. Little does he know he's already scalded a bit of Nico's heart. He loves the after-coffee kisses and the infinitely satisfying one before he leaves the house. 

Nico likes to think coffee was really their first date once. Will would be mulling over tabloids and would make a murmurance about how so and so met in some really eccentric manner, and Nico would remind him that their first date was at Nico's place, sharing coffee and sitting nervously in his parlour. Will laughs and kisses him, because he likes it when Nico gets nostalgic. 

You love coffee more than me, Will scolds once, with a grin on his face so it is hard to take him seriously. He still makes it, however, and pretends to sulk with his lower lip jutted out in a pout. He looks like a child who's been denied a toy. Nico will ignore him for a while when this happens, and sure enough just like any child, Will puts down the pretence in a few minutes and comes clamouring for his attention. It's a part of them, just like how coffee and Will's baking has become part of them.

Sometimes Bianca comes over. She will have cigarette ash on her blouse and nicotine on her breath, but Will still kisses both her cheeks and Nico hugs her nonetheless. Nico knows Bianca took the divorce worse than he did, and so does Will. He doesn't ask her about the crowd she's hanging round with, the ones who claim they're immortal. It's not his place to question his sister's lifestyle. He tries once, and she cuts him off flatly, puffing smoke and drinking Will's coffee. Will puts his hand on Nico's and his eyes ask him to say nothing more. 

He says more. Bianca leaves. She doesn't come back.

Will makes coffee for him when he finds out that his sister is gone. Dead. Driven into a ditch with a couple of her drunk clique. Nico is angry at everyone and everything, but Will refuses to leave him and his anguish. Will and his promising kisses, his coffee and cooking. He confiscates every razor in the house and forbids Nico to go near any of them. Time passes. The wound doesn't quite heal. A scab forms over it, and sometimes he'll pick but most times he's comfortable with just remembering it exists.

Nico loves coffee, but only the way Will makes it. Or at least, used to make it.

He still misses it sometimes. He makes his own, but it doesn't taste the same. There is nothing quite like the strong hand of your lover when they guide your own. Will's hands aren't that strong anymore. He rarely gets up anymore; he cannot. He pushes his wheelchair around with shaky hands. Nico never lets him out of his sight like that. He gets up everytime Will looks as if he wants to move somewhere and presses his ears to Will's lips, wanting to hear every quavering word he says. Nico wishes he could find the goddamned driver who did this to his Will and tear their heart out of them, because that's how much it hurts to see Will this way.

Nico takes care of the house now. He pushes Will into the garden and sits with him as they admire the birds and the greenery Will used to tend to. Nico's not as good with plants. They're all dying, but Will never says anything. Maybe he can't; it takes him too much effort. Nico sweeps the floors and wipes the kitchen counters, and he makes the coffee. When Bianca's ex-lover comes over, she kisses both of Will's cheeks and hugs Nico. Some things don't change.

Nico makes coffee. He makes it bitter this time, never adding sugar or milk or anything else that might take the bitterness away. He burns everything he cooks and serves porridge instead, because he can't bear to see Will try to move his jaw to chew. He kisses Will a lot still, but he misses how Will used to kiss back. He misses how Will would slide one leg between his and bring his hand up to Nico's chin, and he misses how Will would whisper terrifyingly fantastic things into his ear as they lay together. They still lay together, but Will needed to sleep in a certain position now, and Nico was terrified he might do something wrong and break Will further.

Nico finds the person who drove into his lover ten years later. 

Once he thought he would have been mad. But there is no longer any point. He's just a dumb teenager, after all. Just like Bianca was a dumb teenager, high on life, drunk on mad love. He doesn't say anything. The teen leaves, obviously shaken. Nico watches him. Then he makes coffee, as bitter as it can be, and finishes the entire pot by himself. 

Will's wheelchair is vacant now. Sometimes Nico climbs into it and closes his eyes, imagines what Will's doing in heaven. If there is a heaven. Gods forbid there not be when Will deserves it and so much more. It's not fair, Nico tells the walls sometimes. Will was a healthy person, as healthy as he could be. He had been in denial the first few weeks after Will's passing. When it had hit him hard, Nico had made coffee and washed it away. Drink to forget, they said. Only they'd forgotten to mention that coffee was a drink, too.

Nico still loves coffee. He kisses the edges of the cup every time he drinks from it, because it's what Will would call Nico's cup. Black with a skull on it. He can still hear himself saying how cliche it is, and Will laughing. Oh, by the gods, Will laughing. What Nico would give to hear him laughing again. He kisses the rims and runs his fingers over the handle. It makes the coffee bearably bitter. Bitter and sweet. Like Will's coffee and Will's biscuits. Ones that would melt on his tongue.

Sweet and bitter. Nico drinks to his health, to his lover's health. He loves coffee. He always will.

Some things don't change.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry? *dives into blanket fort*  
> Thank you for reading. <3


End file.
